月: 2021年4月

1. A senior U.S. administration official says President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide are expected to discuss peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait at their summit on Friday and the subject could be included in their joint statement. This would be the first reference to Taiwan in a joint statement by the leaders of the two countries since 1969, when Japanese Prime Minister Sato Eisaku and U.S. President Richard Nixon issued one after they met. 2. Japan’s government has designated four more prefectures as areas where stricter anti-coronavirus measures should be taken without announcing an official state of emergency. 3. The president of the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games organizing committee has once again ruled out the possibility that the events would be canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.

1. A Japanese research institute predicts that the U.K. variant of the coronavirus will account for more than 80 percent of cases in Tokyo and its surrounding areas by early May. The National Institute of Infectious Diseases says the U.K. variant called N501Y, which was first detected in Britain, is 1.32 times as transmissible as the original virus in terms of the number of people who can be infected by one person.
2. The U.N.’s nuclear watchdog is considering sending a multinational team of experts to Japan. That’s according to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. 3. U.S. climate envoy John Kerry is set to start climate change talks with his Chinese counterpart in Shanghai on Thursday. Kerry is the first senior official of President Joe Biden’s administration to visit China.

1. The head of Japanese industrial giant Toshiba has stepped down. President and CEO Kurumatani Nobuaki’s resignation comes days after the company got a buyout offer from a U.K.-based investment fund that he had ties to.
2.A senior official of U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration says it will withdraw U.S. troops from Afghanistan by September 11. The official revealed the decision to reporters over the phone on condition of anonymity on Tuesday. The announced deadline marks the 20th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. 3.A White House official says the administration of President Joe Biden is sending an official high-level delegation to Taiwan for talks with senior Taiwanese officials.

1. The Japanese government has officially decided to release treated water from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the ocean. It will be discharged in about two years after being diluted.
2. People in Myanmar are quietly mourning the dead at the start of the traditionally festive New Year holidays.
3. Taiwan says 25 Chinese military aircraft, including fighters and bombers, entered its air defense identification zone on Monday.

1. Golfer Matsuyama Hideki has won the Masters, becoming the first Japanese champion of a men’s major tournament.
2. Coronavirus vaccinations for elderly people aged 65 and older began in Japan on Monday. 3.Defense chiefs of the United States and the Philippines have expressed shared concerns over the presence of Chinese fishing boats in the South China Sea.

1. NHK has learned that the Japanese government is ready to announce, as early as Tuesday, that it plans to dispose of radioactive wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant by releasing it into the ocean. Wastewater produced by the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is stored in tanks in the compound which are set to fill up next year. It’s treated, but still contains radioactive tritium.
2. Tokyo is set to introduce stricter measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus. But the chief expert of a government panel has warned that if they don’t work, another state of emergency may become necessary.
3.The head of Japan’s Self-Defense Forces says more than 100 personnel from a coronavirus-hit unit in the African nation of Djibouti took part in large-scale events late last month. The Defense Ministry suspects the events may have been behind the spread of the infection.

1. The Tokyo Metropolitan Government asked the central government on Thursday to allow it to take intensive anti-coronavirus measures in the capital without an emergency declaration. Coronavirus infections continue to grow in Tokyo, adding to fears about a rapid resurgence. Officials are also alarmed by an increase in the number of cases of a coronavirus variant that is said to be more transmissible. 2.Japanese researchers have found that the British coronavirus variant found in Japan is on average 1.32 times as transmissible as the original virus.
3.Japan’s health ministry says three of its employees have tested positive for the coronavirus after attending a farewell party last month at a restaurant in Tokyo. A total of 23 employees at the Health and Welfare Bureau for the Elderly joined the party on March 24.

1. Japanese industrial conglomerate Toshiba has received a buyout proposal from an international private equity firm, CVC Capital Partners. The value of the offer has not been disclosed. 2. NHK has learned that the Japanese government is making arrangements for Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide to visit India and the Philippines from late April. The visit is planned as Suga works to deepen ties with the United States, Australia, India and others that share the same values as Japan in the face of China’s growing military and economic might. 3.Japan’s Prime Minister Suga Yoshihide will discuss ways to dispose of treated radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant with the head of fishery cooperatives on Wednesday.

1. North Korea says it will not send athletes to the Tokyo Olympics due to the pandemic. The Summer Games are scheduled to kick off July 23.
2.A Chinese aircraft carrier group, led by the Liaoning, has conducted a naval exercise in waters near Taiwan.
3. Japan and Germany plan to hold the first-ever talks between their foreign and defense ministers as early as next week. The sides are making arrangements to hold the “two-plus-two” talks in a teleconference format.

1. Osaka and two other prefectures in Japan are tightening coronavirus measures to curb a spike in new cases. The focus is on a limited area and period of time in the hopes of containing the situation so another state of emergency is avoided. Osaka is now seeing more daily infections than anywhere else in the country.
2. The total number of coronavirus cases around the world has now topped 130 million. In the U.S., however, the daily case count is way down from its peak of over 300,000 in early January. New infections appear to be leveling off in a range of about 40,000 to 70,000 per day. Vaccinations are proceeding quickly. About 20 percent of the adult population of the U.S. has been fully vaccinated. Health authorities said on Friday that fully vaccinated people can travel domestically without having to be tested or self-quarantine. Britain has also been moving quickly with vaccinations. About 46 percent of the population has received at least the first dose. Britain reported just 10 deaths in a recent daily count. Over 1,800 were being reported in January. It’s a hopeful sign that countries with vaccinations well underway are starting to win the fight against the virus. 3. More than 100 people have died in eastern Indonesia and East Timor after heavy rains caused landslides and mud flows on Sunday.